From: Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Athalaric
To: Avienus, Praetorian Prefect
Date: ~522 AD
Context: Athalaric appoints a new Praetorian Prefect after dismissing his corrupt predecessor, using vivid metaphors of medicine and weather to explain the change.
It is an endorsement of one's merits to be chosen after a corrupt predecessor has been removed, since the excesses of those who came before are only corrected when an excellent successor is found. Medicine often works through opposites: when vital heat is applied, the pestilent cold retreats. Clouds themselves are swept away by the breath of the winds, and the north wind restores the calm face of the sky that the southern breeze had troubled. In just this way, we removed your predecessor out of love for the general welfare, so that you might arrive as a most wholesome remedy.
Imitate the opposite of what came before and you will have accomplished praiseworthy things. He was hated for his false accusations -- strive to be welcomed for your justice. He was rapacious -- be restrained. The definition of all virtue is brief: avoid what he did. What is truly praiseworthy is what fails the test of his own judgment. Consider, then...
XX.
AVIENO V. I. PPO ATHALARICUS REX.
[1] Assertio meritorum est potuisse eligi post improbitatem iudicis accusati, quando excessus praecendentium non corrigitur, nisi cum successor optimus invenitur. contrariis rebus plerumque medicina succedit, nam, dum calor vitalis adhibitus fuerit, frigus pestiferum tunc recedit. nubila ipsa ventorum spiratione terguntur et aquilo faciem caeli tranquillam reddit, quam australis aura turbavit. sic nos decessorem tuum summovimus amore generalitatis, ut tu saluberrimus advenires. [2] Contraria prioribus imitare et laudanda peregisti. ille calumniis odiosus: tu stude, ut iustitia reddaris acceptus. rapax ille: tu continens. bonorum omnium brevis est definitio vitare quae fecit, quando illa vere laudanda sunt, quae suo iudicio non probavit. respice denique in illo odium publicum, et tu amorem affectare cunctorum. tanti tuis moribus gratias agant, quanti illius acerbitatem actionis accusant. animare igitur dedecore praecedentis, quando post illum professae malitiae virum vel a malis abstinuisse laudandus es. nam quale erit, si beneficia provinciis tribuas quae hactenus non habebant? bonum insolitum plus amatur et sequenti gaudio confert dulcedinem temporum praemissa tristitia. [3] Atque ideo praefecturae tibi fasces per sextam feliciter indictionem deo auxiliante conferimus, quae quanto fuit hactenus laesione terribilis, tanta nunc habere debet beneficia lenitatis, siquidem sauciata cura tua refovenda sunt. non tuis, non alienis manibus quisquam gravetur. nam ultra omnes impietates est nocere laesos, qui sanare creditur vulneratos. redeat ad nomen antiquum praefectura illa praetorii toto orbe laudabilis: cuius si principium quaeramus, per Ioseph a beneficiis inchoavit. nec inmerito a legibus nostris pater provinciarum, pater etiam praedicatur imperii, quia sic iuste, sic provide agi voluerunt, ut non districtum iudicis nomen, sed vocabulum illi pietatis imponerent. [4] Iustis ac debitis compendiis nostrum per te crescat aerarium. lucra rennuimus, quae legum cauta profanant: pecunias illas volumus, quibus libra iustitiae suffragatur. aedes nostras nequitiam non patimur introire, quia nec privatim intromittere possumus quam publica voce damnamus. [5] Audite, iudices, quid amemus, nolite aliud in malum publicum suspicari. nam cui vos per iniquas provisiones creditis esse placituros, cum nos cognoscatis sola illa diligere, quae possunt iustitiae monitis convenire? vestris iam moribus peccatis, si post ista delinquitis. sed illi forte talia gesserint, qui ad dignitates suis parentibus incognitas pervenerunt: tu post patris praefecturam laudabilem aliquid quod melius praedicetur adiunge, quia diligentior semper debet esse qui sequitur, dum bona parentum probabiliter et imitari cupimus et vincere festinamus. [6] Accedit etiam tuis laudibus, quod dictis prudentum probaris imbutus. grave est sapienti offendere, ubi alterum reperit incidisse. ius forte praetereat, qui iura nescivit: totum a te legitimum quaeritur, cuius origo indocta fuisse nescitur. aequales tibi sunt libri veterum et actiones parentum. praesta opinioni tuae, praesta nostro iudicio, ut impar non sis meritis quorum aequasti per nostra beneficia dignitates.
◆
From:Cassiodorus, on behalf of King Athalaric
To:Avienus, Praetorian Prefect
Date:~522 AD
Context:Athalaric appoints a new Praetorian Prefect after dismissing his corrupt predecessor, using vivid metaphors of medicine and weather to explain the change.
It is an endorsement of one's merits to be chosen after a corrupt predecessor has been removed, since the excesses of those who came before are only corrected when an excellent successor is found. Medicine often works through opposites: when vital heat is applied, the pestilent cold retreats. Clouds themselves are swept away by the breath of the winds, and the north wind restores the calm face of the sky that the southern breeze had troubled. In just this way, we removed your predecessor out of love for the general welfare, so that you might arrive as a most wholesome remedy.
Imitate the opposite of what came before and you will have accomplished praiseworthy things. He was hated for his false accusations -- strive to be welcomed for your justice. He was rapacious -- be restrained. The definition of all virtue is brief: avoid what he did. What is truly praiseworthy is what fails the test of his own judgment. Consider, then...
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.